UPDATED: Search continues for man missing in Connecticut River

Izaskun E. Larrañeta

Old Saybrook - The search for a 58-year-old Massachusetts man who fell from a boat while fishing at the mouth of the Connecticut River resumed Monday morning.

According to Coast Guard officials Monday, Yuri Kirvpichev, was one of four people aboard a 19-foot center console boat.

Officials at the Old Saybrook Fire Department said they received a report of a missing person at 8 p.m. Sunday. The fire department along with Old Saybrook police and the Old Saybrook Ambulance responded to the area.

A boat transiting the mouth of the river found and rescued a man in the water who reported that Kirvpichev was missing.

Lt. Jeff Janaro, spokesman of Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound, said Kirvpichev was not wearing a life jacket, and fell into the water after he lost his fishing pole and attempted to retrieve it.

A search and rescue operation quickly ensued Sunday night. A rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station New London, Coast Guard Cutter Ridley from Sector Long Island Sound in New Haven, and a rescue helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod in Cape Cod, Mass. were deployed in the search.

Members of the Old Saybrook, Old Lyme, Essex, Clinton and Westbrook fire departments, along with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Environmental Conservation police are also assisting in the search.

Janaro did not information on the man who attempted to save Kirvpichev. He said the two other people aboard the boat were Kirvpichev’s sons, 18-year-old David and 17-year-old Tim.

He said the area where Kirvpichev went missing was on the eastern side, not far off the shore in a shallow, rocky area just at the mouth of the Connecticut River.

Janaro said witnesses said Kirvpichev was a good swimmer so it is still possible that he could survive in the water or make it to the shore safely.

He did say, however, that it was a bit disconcerting that no one has heard from him.

The search for Kirvpichev was suspended around 11 p.m. Sunday and resumed shortly after daylight Monday.

Anyone with information is requested to contact Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound at (203) 468-4401 or on VHF channel 16.